A large number of secondary metabolites have been isolated from the filamentous fungus Stachybotrys chartarum and have been described before. Fourteen of these natural compounds were evaluated in vitro in the present study for their inhibitory activity towards the cancer target CK2. Among these compounds, stachybotrychromene C, stachybotrydial acetate and acetoxystachybotrydial acetate turned out to be potent inhibitors with IC50 values of 0.32 µM, 0.69 µM and 1.86 µM, respectively. The effects of these three compounds on cell proliferation, growth and viability of MCF7 cells, representing human breast adenocarcinoma as well as A427 (human lung carcinoma) and A431 (human epidermoid carcinoma) cells, were tested using EdU assay, IncuCyte® live-cell imaging and MTT assay. The most active compound in inhibiting MCF7 cell proliferation was acetoxystachybotrydial acetate with an EC50 value of 0.39 µM. In addition, acetoxystachybotrydial acetate turned out to inhibit the growth of all three cell lines completely at a concentration of 1 µM. In contrast, cell viability was impaired only moderately, to 37%, 14% and 23% in MCF7, A427 and A431 cells, respectively.
Keywords: CK2; Stachybotrys; antiproliferation; natural compounds.